After being blanked, 3-0, in Wednesday's series opener against South Bend, the Captains did the blanking Thursday.

Parlaying strong pitching with timely hitting and some flashy glove work, Lake County sailed to a 5-0 victory over the Silver Hawks.

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The pleasant evening had a less-than-pleasant start for the home team.

With one out in the top of the first inning, South Bend's Socrates Brito ripped a grounder back through the box that slammed into the right forearm of Lake County starter Jake Sisco just below the elbow.

Third baseman Erik Gonzalez grabbed the carom off Sisco and threw across the diamond to retire Brito at first base.

Lake County manager Scooter Tucker and trainer Bobby Ruiz made their way to the mound to check out Sisco, who was allowed to continue.

Sisco retired the next batter, Brandon Drury, on a fly ball to right field, but then was removed from the game.

"Just precautionary," Tucker said. "Jake told us it was tightening up on him a little bit after he got to the dugout. You'd rather be safe than sorry."

Tucker gave the ball to lanky reliever D.J. Brown after the Captains staked themselves to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on RBI singles by Dorssys Paulino and Logan Vick,

The 6-foot-6 Virginia native, making his second appearance since being summoned from extended spring training on May 2, was lights-out good in his Classic Park debut.

The Indians' 39th-round selection in the June 2012 draft out of James Madison University limited the Silver Hawks to one hit in four scoreless innings.

"He definitely picked us up (Thursday)," Scooter Tucker.

Brown (1-0, 0.00 ERA) was wearing a smile on his face and an ice pack on his right shoulder after securing his first professional victory.

"Jake (Sisco) has been pitching well, so I was surprised to have to come in so early," Brown said. "You want to go out there, throw strikes and let your defense make plays."

The Captains made some nice defensive plays, too, chief among them left fielder Logan Vick's full-speed, lay-out grab of Fidel Pena's scorched liner up the gap in left-center with two outs in the top of the third.

Vick's highlight-reel saved a run and seemed to give the Captains a lift. They scored a run in the bottom half of that frame on an RBI single by Claudio Bautista and added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to complete the scoring.

Jack Wagoner and Francisco Valero each contributed two scoreless innings to round out the Captains' first home shutout of the season.

"This game is the same as always," Tucker said. Pitch and play defense, and you have a chance to be in every game. Get some big hits, your chances are better still."

South Bend manager Mark Haley credited the Captains with staying on task after the early adversity.

"They made pitches and we didn't," Haley said. "When we threw fastballs over the plate, they didn't miss many of them in crucial situations."

After Friday's series finale, they Captains head to Kentucky for three games against the Bowling Green Hot Rods.